Experiencing God - Surrendering 21

"To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One.
Isaiah

The act of submitting usually means surrendering power to another, to yield to the control of another.  In our culture, submitting or surrendering is not a popular thing to do.  We want to be in control, particularly in regards to the decisions we make enforcing our individual rights.  We want to exercise power over our lives and not submit to anyone.  Submission or surrender are seen as signs of weakness. 

And yet, in scripture readings, we see submission to God as something favorable, something beneficial. 

"Young men may grow tired and weary, youths may stumble, but those who hope in the Lord renew their strength.  They put on wings like eagles.  They run and do not grow weary, walk and never tire."

"Come to me, all you who labor and are over burdened, and I will give you rest.  Put my yoke upon you, and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Jesus proclaims that His yoke of submission is easy, and his burden is light.  So how can we reconcile these apparent contradictions between what we are inclined to do and what we are asked to do. 

The best way to answer this question is to examine our own experience.  In surrendering to God, or submitting to Jesus' yoke, we make a free response to seek the way of love in all of our decisions and actions.  What would Jesus do?  How would God respond to this or that particular situation?  Out of love!  Our response need not be a clinging to power, a clinging to things, a clinging to our often misguided thinking to justify ourselves; but a surrender to a wisdom and a direction that is so much greater than anything we may ourselves possess.

"Who made the stars if not He who drills them like an army, calling each one by name.  The Lord is an everlasting God.  He created the boundaries of the earth.  God does grow tired or weary.  God's understanding is beyond fathoming."

Think of the time when you were struggling with a critical decision with dire consequences, perhaps having to do with a health situation, a financial loss, or a loss of a relationship.  And you didn't know what to do.  So you went to the Lord in prayer and discovered what you must do.  Was it not a response of love?  Did you not experience a sense of peace?  Was not the Lord with you in the decision you had to make?  Was there not a letting go, a self-surrender that led to peace and a oneness with God? 

Surrender is not a sign of weakness.  It is a gift of strength.  It allows us to let go of the internal struggle, to accept what is, and to see the grandeur of God in all things, even things that appear momentarily beyond human understanding.